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Post Grads Hate: Broken Cars

My car is a bit of a lemon. I am very much aware of this. Even so, I love her. She is a trooper and has gotten me through many a road trip, late night Taco Bell run, and basic every day trips around town.

Monday morning, the Shikar, as she is so lovingly named, decided not to start. My first thought was “Shit, I don’t have jumper cables on me.” My next thought was, “F**k this is probably going to cost money.” And finally, I thought enough to call my boss to tell him I’d be late.

I held out hope that my battery was dead until I finally got the jumper cables, tried to jump the car, and got no response. The engine still wouldn’t even try to turnover. Which meant one of 2 things: my battery was so far gone it had to be replaced, or there was something else that was broken.

I am very lucky in that Boss Man has a spare car he is letting me borrow while mine is broken, but I still had to get the poor Shikar to a mechanic somehow. Translation: I had to PAY to get the Shikar TOWED to a mechanic. And all this before I would even know what was really wrong with her.

I got the call this morning, at work, with the diagnosis. She needs a new starter. On top of the struts I already knew she needed. Those things are a liiiitle more expensive than a new battery.

I love my car, but I hate how unpredictable the costs associated with it are. I never know when some vital part is going to decide to stop working. And I don’t know which part it will be. I feel like a lot of Post Grads have this same issue. We work so hard to budget our money to afford life, to pay off our loans, to be able to take a trip home for one holiday out of the year. When our cars break down it can be really detrimental.

As always, the Shikar has taught me that I am grateful for even having a car, and that I should somehow learn how to plan for these things better.